Apparatus for Protecting A Young Human From the Elements

ABSTRACT

A poncho for protecting an adult wearer, and a child worn by the adult, from the weather is disclosed. The poncho has a front opening and a child cape is attached to the poncho beneath the front opening. The child cape may be placed over the child that is worn on the adult&#39;s torso.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of outer gear. Morespecifically, the present invention relates to outer gear that isdesigned to meet the needs of women and mothers of children.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Ponchos have traditionally been used to protect a single individual fromthe element. A typical poncho is oftentimes fabricated from a singlelarge sheet of fabric with an opening in the center for the user's head,and a piece of fabric that covers the user's head. Rainproof ponchosnormally are fitted with fasteners to close the sides once the poncho isdraped over the user's body, with openings provided for the user's arms.Sometimes, the piece of fabric covering the user's head is in the formof a hood attached near the opening that covers the user's head duringuse.

Recently, there has been an increased popularity in devices which allowparents, or other adults, to carry babies and small children in devicesclose to the adult's body. Such devices may involve securing a baby onan adult's torso with the child's head close to the adult's chest.

As a result, there exists a need for a poncho that protects a wearerfrom the elements while also allowing the wearer to carry a child inthis way. There additionally exists a need for a poncho that providesprotection from the elements for not only the adult, but also for thechild.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

With the foregoing in mind, embodiments of the present invention arerelated to a poncho. Furthermore, the poncho may advantageously combineweather protection for an adult with weather protection for a childsecured to the adult's chest.

These and other features and advantages according to an embodiment ofthe present invention are provided by a poncho that is modified to beworn simultaneously by both an adult and a child. The poncho may includea hood for the adult and a separate hood for the child. The poncho mayhave a closeable opening in the upper front portion. When the opening isclosed, the adult's may be fully protected from the elements similarlyto traditional ponchos. However, when a child is secured to the adult'storso, the opening may be left open to allow the poncho to fit over boththe adult and child. Additionally, the opening may be beneficial byproviding more comfort for the child and allowing the child's head to befully exposed to ambient air rather than stuck under the cloth of theponcho, which could be detrimental to the health of the child. A capefor the child may also be attached to the front of the poncho. Thischild cape may extend from the bottom of the poncho, over the length ofthe child's body that is not protected by the poncho, and include a hoodthat may be worn on the child's head.

An additional warming cloth may be secured to the bottom of the poncho.This warming cloth may be placed along the bottom portion of a childsecured to an adult wearer of the poncho. This warming cloth may also beplaced on the handles of a stroller, bicycle, shopping cart, or the liketo protect the adult wearer's hands during inclement weather.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an embodiment of the inventivedevice.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating an embodiment of the firstpocket.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of one embodiment of the inside of theponcho, illustrating one embodiment of the bottom liner.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which embodiments of theinvention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in manydifferent forms and should not be construed as limited to theembodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided sothat this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fullyconvey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Those ofordinary skill in the art realize that the following descriptions of theembodiments of the present invention are illustrative and are notintended to be limiting in any way. Other embodiments of the presentinvention will readily suggest themselves to such skilled persons havingthe benefit of this disclosure. Like numbers refer to like elementsthroughout.

In this detailed description of the present invention, a person skilledin the art should note that directional terms, such as “above,” “below,”“upper,” “lower,” and other like terms are used for the convenience ofthe reader in reference to the drawings. Also, a person skilled in theart should notice this description may contain other terminology toconvey position, orientation, and direction without departing from theprinciples of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the device 100 is depicted with the child cape 101attached to the poncho 102. A front opening may be disposed verticallyon the front of the poncho 102, as shown in FIG. 1. The front openingmay be closable by use of a zipper, hooks and loop fasteners, buttons,or the like. The front opening 103 may be located on the centerline ofthe poncho. As shown in FIG. 1, the child cape 101 may attach to thefront side of the poncho 102, which may be the side worn on the front ofa person's body. The child cape 101 may attach to the poncho 102 belowthe lowermost portion of the front opening 103. The child cape 101 maysecure to the poncho 102 on a first end and be secured to the child'shead with a child hood 104 at a second end.

A child hood fastener 116 may be disposed on the child cape 101 belowthe child hood 104. The child hood fastener 116 may comprise lengths ofmaterial connected to each side of the child cape 101 below the childhood 104. The two lengths of material may be secured to one another witha fastening device such as buttons, snaps, hooks and loops, or the like.The child hood fastener 116 may secure the child cape 101 to the childwhile also securing or positioning the child hood 104 around the head ofthe child.

There may be two hand slits 106 and 105 in the poncho. Both hand slits106 and 105 may be placed equidistance from the centerline of the poncho102. The distance from the centerline to each hand slit 106, 105 may bea hand slit distance. The left hand slit 105 may be located on thewearer's left side and the right hand slit 106 may be located on thewearer's right side. Each hand slit 106, 105 may be an opening in theponcho 102 through which the wearer may insert his or her hand and arm.The hand slits 105, 106 may allow the wearer more mobility while wearingthe device 100. The hand slits 105, 106 may be closable with a zipper,hook and loop fasteners, buttons, or the like. In one embodiment, thehand slits 105, 106 may include a cover. In one embodiment, the covermay be rectangular, positioned over the hand slits 105, 106, and securedto the poncho 102 on three sides. The wearer of the poncho 102 mayextend his or her hand and arm through the fourth, open side of thecover when utilizing the hand slits. Such a configuration may provideadditional protection to the wearer during inclement weather.

A first pocket 107 may be positioned on the front of the poncho 102below the front opening 103. The first pocket 107 may be an essentiallyrectangular piece of fabric. The top right and top left corners of thefirst pocket 107 may be clipped to provide a hexagonal piece of fabricas shown in FIG. 1. The top and bottom sides of the first pocket 107 maybe permanently attached to the poncho 102. The left and right sides ofthe first pocket 107 may be unattached and form a right opening 109 anda left opening 108. Such a configuration may allow the wearer of theponcho 102 to insert his or her hands inside the first pocket 107,through the left opening 108 and the right opening 109, and use itsimilarly to a muff. In such an embodiment, the wearer may place his orher left hand and a portion of the left arm through the left hand slit105 and into the left opening 108. The wearer's right hand and a portionof the right arm may be placed through the right hand slit 106 and intothe right opening 109. The left and right sides of the first pocket 107may be partially attached to provide smaller left and right openingsthrough which the wearer may place his or her hands. In one embodiment,the portion of the left and right sides of the first pocket 107, whichare essentially perpendicular to the bottom edge of the first pocket 107may be secured to the poncho 102 while the upper portion of the left andright sides may remain unattached to the poncho.

A child cape slit 110 may be disposed on the first pocket 107. The childcape slit 110 may be closable with a zipper, hoops and loops fasteners,snaps, buttons, or the like. When the child cape 101 is in use, it mayattach to the poncho 102 at a location that is covered by the firstpocket 107. In some embodiments, the child cape 101 may be permanentlyattached to the poncho 102. In other embodiments, the child cape 101 maybe removably attached to the poncho 102 by a zipper, hoops and loopfasteners, buttons, snaps, or the like. Regardless of how the child cape101 may be fastened to the poncho 102, it may extend through a childcape slit 110 located in the material that forms the first pocket 107.

In one embodiment, the child cape slit 110 may include a child cape slitcover. In such an embodiment, the child cape slit cover may beessentially rectangular, positioned over the child cape slit 110, andsecured to the first pocket 107 on three sides. The child cape 101 mayextend through the fourth, open side of the child cape slit cover whenutilized. Such a configuration may provide additional protection to thecontents of the first pocket 107 during inclement weather.

An adult hood 117 may be disposed at the top of the poncho 102. Theadult hood 117 may be secured around the head of the wearer using anadult hood fastener. The adult hood fastener may comprise a length ofmaterial attached to the bottom of one side of the hood. There may be aloop at the end of this length of material. The loop may be constructedto be secured around a button or other securing device located on theother side of the hood. Additionally, the adult hood fastener maycomprise buttons, snaps, hooks and loops, or the like.

The front edge of the adult hood, the edge that may surround a wearer'sface, may have an elasticized cable extending through a channel formedalong this front edge. There may be an adult hood opening adjusterdisposed on the elasticized cable, which may allow the length of thecable to be adjusted. There may be an adult hood opening adjusterdisposed on the elasticized cable on both the left and right sides ofthe hood.

The adult hood may also comprise a hood size adjuster 118. The hood sizeadjuster 118 may be an elasticized cable connected to one side of thefront opening of the hood, extending around the length of the hood, andconnecting to the other side of the front opening of the hood with anadjusting device disposed upon the elasticized cable. The adjustingdevice may be operated to lengthen or shorten the effective length ofthe elasticized cable. Such operation of the adjusting device may securethe hood more closely to the wearer's head.

Turning to FIG. 2, a second pocket 211 may be disposed on the poncho202. This second pocket 211 may be located on the poncho 202 directlybehind the first pocket 207 in such a way that the second pocket 211 maynot be visible when viewing the device. The second pocket 211 may havean opening located near the top of the second pocket 211. This openingmay be closed by a zipper, hooks and loops fastener, buttons, snaps, orthe like. The opening in the second pocket 211 may be located proximateto the child cape slit 210 and the contents of the second pocket 211 maybe accessed through the child cape slit 210. In one embodiment in whichthe opening of the second pocket 211 may be closed, the fastening devicemay be accessed through the child cape slit 210. In one embodiment, thefastening device may be accessed through the left opening 208 or theright opening 209.

The second pocket 211 may be formed by securing a piece of material tothe poncho 202. This material may be essentially rectangular and may beconnected to the poncho 202 on all four sides. An opening may beconstructed in the material to allow items to be placed securely insidethe second pocket 211. In other embodiments, the material may be securedto the poncho 202 on three sides and the opening formed by the unsecuredfourth side may be used to access the contents of the second pocket 211.The second pocket 211 may be large enough to accommodate storage of thechild cape. The child cape may also be stored within the first pocket.The second pocket 211 may provide a secure location in which to storekeys, wallets, phones, or the like.

The child cape may be removed from storage in the first or second pocketand secured to the poncho by using a fastening device that may beattached to the poncho at a location covered by the first pocket 207.The fastening device may be buttons, snaps, zippers, hook and loopfasteners, or other fastening devices known in the art. Alternatively,the child cape may be permanently attached to the poncho within thesecond pocket 211 or may removable or permanently attached to the poncho202 at an alternate location, such as, but not limited to, above thefirst pocket.

Turning now to FIG. 3, a bottom liner 312 may be seen disposed along thebottom, inside portion of the poncho 302. The bottom liner 312 may be apiece of material that is essentially rectangular. The bottom liner 312may be attached to the inner side of the poncho 302 on three sides. Thebottom edge of the bottom liner 312 may be secured to the bottom hem ofthe poncho 302 or may otherwise be affixed near the bottom edge of theponcho 302. The sides of the bottom liner 312 may be shorter than thebottom and top edges of the bottom liner 312. The sides of the bottomliner 312 may be secured to the inside of the poncho 302 forming apocket-like configuration. The material forming the bottom liner 312 maybe elasticized. In some embodiments, the material forming the bottomliner 312 may have heat-retaining or insulating properties. The top edgeof the bottom liner 312 may be unsecured to the poncho 302. The top edgemay have an elasticized cable extending through a channel formed on thetop edge. There may be a bottom liner adjuster 313 disposed on theelasticized cable, which allows the length of the cable to be adjusted.

The design of the bottom liner may allow the bottom liner to be slippedover shopping carts, strollers, bicycle handles, or the like and protectthe wearer's hands during cold, wet, or otherwise inclement weather.Additionally, the bottom liner 312 may be turned inside out and pulledup over the bottom portion of a child secured to the torso of an adultwearer of the poncho 302.

In one embodiment of the inventive device, a third pocket 314 may beaffixed to the inside of the poncho 302. The third pocket 314 may besimilar to the first pocket of the device, but attached to the inside ofthe poncho 302 rather than the outside. The third pocket 314 may be anessentially rectangular piece of material that is secured to the poncho302 along only the top and bottom edges. This may leave openings oneither side of the third pocket 314 through which the wearer may inserthis or her hands. The material from which the third pocket 314 isconstructed may be elasticized. The material from which the third pocket314 is constructed may have heat retaining or insulating properties.

The poncho 302 may have thumb loops 315 attached proximate to the inner,bottom edge. The thumb loops 315 may be an elasticized material. Thethumb loops 315 may be any elongated material that is connected to theponcho 302 on two ends in a manner that forms a loop. The size of thethumb loops 315 should be large enough to accommodate the insertion of atypical adult thumb through the loop. The wearer of the poncho 302 mayinsert his or her thumb, or other finger, through the thumb loop 315 toprevent the poncho from blowing upward in windy weather. The location ofthe thumb loops 315 on the inner side of the poncho 302 may allow thewearer to keep his or her arms protected while also preventing theponcho 302 from blowing up or around the wearer or the child attached tothe wearer. The thumb loops 315 may be designed and allow the wearer tosecure the bottom edge of the poncho 302 over the wearer's hands whilethe wearer has his or her hands on bicycle handles, stroller handles, orthe like.

One embodiment of the inventive apparatus may include fasteners disposedalong the bottom edge of the poncho. The fasteners may include, snaps,hooks and loops, zippers, buttons, or the like. The fasteners may bedisposed on the inside of the bottom portion of the poncho. An extenderpiece may be connected to the fasteners by mating fasteners disposedalong the extender piece, The extender piece may be a piece of materialthat may be connected to the poncho to effectively lengthen the ponchowhen connected. The top edge of the extender piece may be as long as thebottom edge of the poncho.

A person of skill in the art will appreciate additional embodiments thatwould be included within the scope and spirit of the present invention,after having the benefit of this disclosure.

Many modifications and other embodiments of the invention will come tothe mind of one skilled in the art having the benefit of the teachingspresented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings.Therefore, it is understood that the invention is not to be limited tothe specific embodiments disclosed, and that modifications andembodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the appendedclaims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A device for protecting a person from weather comprising: a poncho having a front side, a bottom edge, and an inside; a front opening having a bottom edge; and a child cape; wherein the front opening is disposed vertically on the front side of the poncho; wherein the child cape is attached to the front side of the poncho below the bottom edge of the front opening; wherein the poncho may be worn by the person; and wherein the child cape may be placed over a child worn by the person.
 2. The device according to claim 1 further comprising a left hand slit; and a right hand slit; wherein the left hand slit is disposed a hand slit distance to the left of the front opening; wherein the right hand slit is disposed the hand slit distance to the right of the front opening.
 3. The device according to claim 1 further comprising a first pocket disposed on the poncho below the bottom edge of the front opening;
 4. The device according to claim 3 wherein a child cape slit is disposed in the first pocket; wherein the child cape may attach to the poncho inside the first pocket and extend through the child cape slit.
 5. The device according to claim 5 wherein the child cape is removably attached to the poncho.
 6. The device according to claim 3 further comprising a second pocket disposed on the poncho behind the first pocket, wherein the child cape may be stored within the second pocket.
 7. The device according to claim 1 further comprising a bottom liner having a left edge, a right edge, a bottom liner edge, and a top edge; wherein the bottom liner edge is attached to the poncho proximate to the bottom edge of the poncho and on the inside of the poncho; wherein the top edge of the bottom liner is not attached to the poncho; wherein the right edge of the bottom liner and the left edge of the bottom liner are attached to the inside of the poncho.
 8. The device according to claim 7 wherein the bottom liner comprises elasticized material.
 9. The device according to claim 7 wherein the bottom liner comprises an adjusting cord disposed on the bottom liner proximate to the top edge of the bottom liner; wherein the adjusting cord may be lengthened or shortened.
 10. The device according to claim 1 wherein the child cape is removably attached to the poncho.
 11. The device according to claim 1 wherein the child cape further comprises a child hood; and a child hood fastener; wherein the child hood fastener may secure the child hood to the child.
 12. The device according to claim 1 further comprising a third pocket wherein the third pocket is affixed to the inside of the poncho.
 13. The device according to claim 1 further comprising a plurality of thumb loops disposed proximate to the bottom edge of the poncho.
 14. The device according to claim 12 further comprising: a hood; and a hood size adjuster.
 15. The device according to claim 10 wherein an attachment point for the child cape is disposed within a first inner pocket.
 16. The device according to claim 15 wherein the child cape may be stored within a second inner pocket wherein the second inner pocket is accessed within the first inner pocket.
 17. A device for protecting two humans from the elements comprising: a poncho; a child cape; a left hand slit; a right hand slit; a first pocket; a second inner pocket; a bottom liner; a bottom liner adjuster;
 18. The device according to claim 17 wherein the child cape is removable.
 19. The device according to claim 17 wherein the child cape attaches to the poncho inside the first inner pocket.
 20. The device according to claim 17 further comprising a hood with a head adjuster. 